Managing Pet Owners’ Guilt and Grief in Veterinary Euthanasia Encounters

Abstract

Through examining the emotion-laden encounters between veterinarians and bereaved pet owners, this study focuses attention on a group of medical professionals who manage the emotions of their clients in light of opposing contextual goals. While negotiating possible outcomes for animal patients, veterinary emotion work is designed to assuage guilt and grief to facilitate timely and rational decisions. However, after clients make the difficult decision to euthanize their pet, veterinary emotion work is geared toward creating "safe" emotional space for grieving clients. This study illustrates that veterinarians have a growing commitment to comforting the owners of euthanized animals and to validating their feelings of grief, pain, and sorrow. On a broader, theoretical level, this study also applies and extends concepts developed in previous sociological analyses of emotion management and human-animal relationships.

Grief for animal companions and an approach to supporting their bereaved owners

“…That is, society sets expectations of how we behave, and there is no collective support or understanding for expressions of grief when an AC dies (Adams, Bonnett & Meek, 1999;Chur-Hansen, 2010;Morris, 2012). This is not surprising in light of the general 'endemic silence around grief and bereavement' (Royal College of Nursing Scotland, 2010) and…”

“… How the attending veterinarian broke the bad news and helped the owner reach an informed decision for euthanasia (Shaw & Lagoni, 2007;Pilgram, 2010;Morris, 2012);  The influence of financial constraints in the decision (also a source of stress to veterinary personnel (Yeates, 2009;Batchelor & McKeegan, 2012)). …”

Informed Consent in Veterinary Medicine: Ethical Implications for the Profession and the Animal ‘Patient’

“…There is little current work which explores the decision making rationale of veterinary surgeons in this specific situation and this could be an important area for future empirical research. Indeed, sociological research in the form of ethnographic (Morris, 2012), interview (Ashall and Hobson-West 2017) and survey work (Kondrup et al 2016) is beginning to open up discussion on the societal complexities of veterinary decision making in a variety of ethically charged scenarios, including euthanasia, donation and non-payment. Further empirical work would significantly inform the argument made in this paper: In short, that a lack of appreciation of the differences in meaning of informed consent given for sometimes identical medical and veterinary practices may result in a misunderstanding of the relevance of veterinary informed consent to ethical decision making, both by veterinary professionals and animal owners.…”

Emotion Management: Unexpected Research Opportunities

“…Funeral directors, for example, must continually and carefully switch roles between salespersons, who need to make a living, and caregivers and consolers for mourning clients (Bailey ). Morris (, 359–360) finds that the same tensions exist for veterinarians: “through the management of guilt and grief after euthanasia, veterinarians help clients construct positive moral identities… Likewise, having empathy and, more importantly, the ability to convey it effectively to clients is a key part of their moral identities as a professional – that is, these qualities establish them as ‘good’ and competent veterinarians.”…”